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If James Cameron's upcoming 3-D movie is anything like the game that shares its name, it will be a blunt and unambiguous allegory for European imperialism – and a chore to sit through.

Set several years before the film, James Cameron's Avatar: The Game – the first console title designed for stereoscopic 3-D (more on that later) – begins with our character, Ryder, arriving on the lush jungle moon Pandora, which is populated by the Na'vi, a race of tall, blue-skinned humanoids. They were the moon's sole sentient inhabitants until Earthlings arrived, bringing bulldozers to harvest a rare superconductive compound called … unobtanium (yeesh).

Plenty of questions about this fantastical world are raised, but almost none are answered – at least not while playing. To learn anything about unobtanium, as well as the Na'vi's culture, the moon's floating mountains, and the titular avatar project – which involves growing soulless Na'vi that can be “driven” by a human consciousness – players need to scan everything they see. Then they visit the “Pandorapedia,” which is filled with countless pages of regrettably dry, sometimes dauntingly scientific text.

The only thing that's clear in the game's brief bits of dialogue is that the Na'vi are repressed by humans, and we have to decide which side we're on. To that end, there are a couple of key points in the story where players are offered the choice to either stick with the invaders or take up with the nature-loving Na'vi.

Side with the humans and the game becomes a repetitive shooter. Players move around on foot or in jeeps, robots or gunships, navigating beautifully rendered but indistinctive jungle environments. We use a variety of futuristic guns to take aim at every Na'vi, alien anima and hostile plant we see while levelling up familiar video-game abilities, such as berserker rage and health regeneration. Our goal: Sever the Na'vi's link to Eywa, the moon's Gaia-like ecosystem.

Go with the Na'vi and you'll inhabit your avatar for most of the game, making things slightly more interesting. The Na'vi are stronger and faster and don't have to worry about wildlife attacking them, but they use decidedly low-tech hardware, including sticks, bows and six-legged horses. They are easily killed, which meant I had to rely heavily on my avatar's special abilities, including invisibility and brief bursts of speed and power.

Regardless of which side you choose, you'll run into the same frustrating issues, including areas where enemies perpetually respawn, loose controls that will have you running over cliff edges, and glitches where creatures slide across the ground as though it were ice.

You'll also have the option to engage in a side game called Conquest. It plays a lot like Risk and has players fighting to control every geographical area on the moon. Alas, it's not particularly engaging – or useful, since the perks earned here are minimal.

It's a pretty unmemorable experience, all said – save, perhaps, the 3-D element.

Avatar: The Game is the first stereoscopic title made for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Unfortunately, 3-D-enabled televisions are all but non-existent in Canada – and most of the world – meaning virtually no one will be able to experience the effect.

Why Ubisoft decided to include 3-D functionality at all is a mystery. James Cameron'sAvatar: The Game is middling entertainment that most of us will have forgotten long before stereoscopic televisions enter our homes.